Every few years we geeks have our own kind of popcorn show to watch: tech companies showing teeth to one another. This time around, it's Palm vs Apple. In all seriousness though, how ethical is the battle around iTunes?

Yes, but my point is that this entire agreement is with the USB consortium, and I'm not sure whether what's at stake is merely Palm's membership in good standing with that consortium.

That is, I'm not certain that Palm can't just decide that it doesn't care whether it's officially USB compliant and just decide it doesn't care to abide by those terms anymore. If you want to make a "USB" device, and you don't care about having the USB logo, you don't have to sign that contract or agree to any of that. The zillions of small-fry hardware manufacturers out there certainly don't. Now, some of them use the USB logo anyway (and could get sued for trademark infringement) and some don't. But I'm wondering whether Palm could just join their ranks. I mean, who's going to not buy a Pre just because there's no USB logo on the box?